I did a 6 year note on my current boat and may do a 15 on the next. The way I see it is I will have a sizable down payment due to being able to sell my current boat which will be paid off, so out of the gate if I buy brand new (unlikely) I will already NOT be upside down. Then I just keep my payments low to free up money for other things that may come up and then pay extra when I can or feel like it. In any case if a major life event were to happen that I need to offload some liabilities I should be able to sell and come out with a little cash in my pocket due to the size of the down payment.